It’s Sid the Kid’s birthday today, (he needs a new nickname because he’s outgrown it and it’s stupid) and he’ll be having a parade in Cole Harbour touring with his new best friend, Stanley. Oh the fun they will have shaking hands, kissing babies and trying to avoid the legions of groupies hoping to carry his love child.

Why the hell might Oiler fans care about this - given that the rate their team team is moving it will be a long time before Sam Gagner is bringing Stanley with him on a parade through the streets of London to celebrate his Aug 10th birthday.

It’s still 35 long days until the Oilers officially arrive for training camp. When Steve Tambellini announced Craig MacTavish wasn’t coming back he declared that MacTavish’s dismissal wasn’t just solely on the former coach’s shoulders, but that the players had to realize that they were responsible as well.

I guess Dwayne Roloson, Kyle Brodziak and Ales Kotalik were the key culprits because to date they are the only ones who won’t be returning. I’m not naïve enough to think that Tambellini hasn’t looked at other moves, but right now the only differences heading into camp this year compared to last is no Brodziak, and Nikolai Khabibulin is in while Mathieu Garon and Roloson out.

I wonder if the team and management will be beating the same, “We will compete for the division title” drum that we heard last year. And if not, how come? To hell with humility, if they believe they can compete for the division there is nothing wrong with saying it, but I’m guessing you will hear a much more reserved approach come September.

Right now I don’t see the Oilers any differently than I did a year ago, other than Pat Quinn having their undivided attention, which should make this team a bit better. But right now the Oilers once again look a team that could finish between 7th to 12th. I don’t think anyone could confidently predict an exact spot, although we will before the season starts.

Accountability

The veterans like Moreau, Horcoff, Staios, Pisani, Hemsky, Souray and young Gagner, will be held accountable this year. There is no way that Quinn will give them as much leeway as MacTavish did last year, and that will make them better.

While the vets will be like young kids trying to earn the respect of their teacher, the younger players better be ready to compete.

I don’t buy that just because Quinn is making out the lineup that Dustin Penner, Robert Nilsson, Ladislav Smid and Patrick O’Sullivan will automatically become consistent. While Smid and O’Sullivan aren’t close in the underachieving and uninspired levels of Penner and Nilsson all four have battled consistency.

Penner infuriated Randy Carlyle just as much as he did MacTavish, and Nilsson’s unwillingness to show up every night didn’t materialize under MacTavish. Both players need to look in the mirror and realize that the reflection is their biggest detractor, not the coach. Unless Quinn has some special Zen-master like powers the only way Penner and Nilsson show up consistently is by having the pride to do so.

Tom Gilbert and Denis Grebeshkov have improved the past few seasons, but last year both were softer in front of the net than a guy sitting front row at a peeler bar when he sees his sister stroll up on stage. (True story about a guy I went to school with, but that’s for another day).

Sure the Oilers sucked at faceoffs, and their forwards weren’t great at blocking shots, but the two G-men got a free pass far too often when it came to losing battles and position in front of the goal on the PK. (Staios was a major culprit here as well).

Quinn and the coaching staff will have a different system. It will be more up-tempo with an aggressive forechecking style that, if the players have the gonads to play consistently, should prove beneficial.

So here we sit as Sid the Kid celebrates his 22nd birthday drinking Gatorade from Stanley ’s Cup, with a real sense of déjà vu. Oiler fans have seen this movie before, but are hoping that a young Cogliano, or Gagner or maybe a veteran like Hemsky or Horcoff can lead this team offensively, while the team finds a way to keep the puck out of the net.

Are you sick of it? Probably not, because many of you have forgotten what it’s like to feel any differently about the Copper and Blue a month away from the start of the season.

ARE SOME OF YOU REALLY THIS DESPERATE?

I’m stunned at how many emails I’ve received from fans claiming Nick Zherdev is the answer.

“The Oilers need Zherdev. He has great skill and being from the Ukraine means he’ll feel at home in the winter here. Give him $6 million over two years and we’ll make the playoffs for sure.” - Tim
“Zherdev for $3 million is a steal and Tambellini should sign him ASAP. I’ve watched him play and his skill is top-five in the league. Quinn will make him work hard, trust me.” - Bill from Clareview

I can understand that fans want some new blood, but at least go after a player who has enough heart to pump the blood through his veins more than once every four games.

ANOTHER LEGEND IS GONE

I was a big fan of JR, especially when he played in Chicago , but he never produced as many memories as John Hughes. Hughes wrote, produced and directed some of the most memorable movies in the 1980s.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles was my favourite. I wasn’t a fan of Steve Martin until he teamed up with John Candy in this classic. It’s filled with memorable quotes, “Those aren’t pillows…How about those Bears”…or Martin’s F-bomb tirade at Marathon Car Rental or this scene:

Candy was awesome…”How would he know where we are going”…It still cracks me up.

Hughes was also the mastermind of classics like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Uncle Buck, Pretty in Pink, The Great Outdoors and Home Alone. Interesting that Home Alone was his most successful movie of all-time. For my money it didn’t come close to PTA or Bueller, but regardless he was a force in the 80s.

One of Canada's most versatile sports personalities. Jason hosts The Jason Gregor Show, weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m., on TSN 1260, and he writes a column every Monday in the Edmonton Journal. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JasonGregor

I don't have a problem with heading into camp with the roster looking like it is. (Now, that's not to say, I wouldn't like to see some trades that do visibly improve the club.) I've said it elsewhere too. With all of the problems, or excuses, this team had all of last year (poor schedule, multiple slumps, three-headed monster, etc), this team was in a playoff spot at the All-Star break. It was only the last quarter where everything caught up with 'em, Visnovsky went down and MacT completely lost everyone in the room except Roloson that it fell apart.

The schedule is markedly better (on paper.) The pressure of being declared a potential division champ is off. Visnovsky is back healthy. Many of our young players are a year older (and a couple of 'em are playing for contracts) which should pay dividends. As was mentioned the coaching staff should have their undivided attention. To myself, it points to surprise team. We'll see.

@ Stef
Realistic optimism- nice to see. While I'm not holding my breath that this will be a surprisingly positive season, there is that potential. Of course, lots of things need to fall in place and many players need to exceed expectations for a change. But it can happen right? Right? Please.
Go good guys!

hmmm random thought for the day:
when developing young talent (gagner, cogliano, eberle, raja...) does it matter if there is currently no one on the team that is at the skill level that is projected for these kids? What I am asking is, as it has been 15 years (or so) since the Oil have had a 50 goal scorer, is there any chance of developing on from our current set of youngsters? do they need a 50 goal scorer to learn how to score 50 goals? or is hemmer enough of an elite player that they can learn. If we trade Cogliano to Washington for David Steckel and he then gets to play with Ovechkin willl he not be a better player than he ever could be if he only has Hemmer to look to as the premier skilled player on his team? Is skill required to develop skill or is it something that can be coached?

@ Rice
IMO, I do believe there is credence in that. Look at our beloved team from the 80's and to a man they all said how much they learned from 99. Look at Detroit. Of course, an elite player should be able to rise regardless of who he's with- Ovechkin. Problem is we're never drafting close enough to #1 to get that type of player.

@ Rice
Doubt it. When I look at the youngsters (can't believe I just used that word) be it Gagner/ Cogs or Eberle/ MPS I see potentially really good second line players, maybe even a decent first line guy, but nobody I would consider elite. (Elite = Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin). Even just looking for MORE elite, I say Gagner has best potential. Never know though, we are talking about very young players.

34 years old, so we can sign him to a "long term we are going to buy you out at the end" cap friendly contract because he is under 35. 6 year deal with 2 mil cap hit? Say 4-3-3-1-500k-500k. Maybe make it 7 year contract to toss in a few more mil at the start. He is only 1 year removed from a 71 point season and his point totals last year (45) would have been good for 3rd in Oiler scoring.

This makes total sense. 25-14-33-19 goals since the lockout. Even at 2.5-3 cap hit he makes more sense than Kotalik's contract. Even if doesn't play top line (and I could see him making a strong push to get the spot)

Prospal has averaged 22.75 goals per season since the lockout, so expecting 25-30 is wishful thinking as he approaches 35 years old. He's a soft complimentary player. The Oilers are already paying Penner to be that guy.
In fact, I'd bet there's no chance, none, that Prospal scores more goals than Penner this season, no matter what team he ends up with. Bad idea.

RE: Prospal. Problem is we don't get any tougher and it furthers our 2nd line log-jam. More moves would be required. I would like to see someone with some grit on our top 2 lines- like when Torres was on blow, errr, playing hard.

And with all of these happenings, the Oilers announce their Mini Packs today..

About the same price as last year, where they charge you for an Oil kings game (in the 3 packs - does anyone really go to these games?) but they don't in the six game packs, but they make you buy a preseason game. Joy of joys..

I'm still not working, but I might get a job soon that I have weekends off, so I decide to check out their famous "Weekend Pack" - Usually have some decent games.

Anyone else see something a bit odd? Since when is a Thursday part of a weekend? You mean to tell me they couldn't have thrown another Sunday game in there and move the thursday game on to one of the other packs?

Isn't that the purpose of the weekend packs? So that people who can't make it into the city during the week can make it in on the weekends?

Well I guess on the positive side, since I'm not currently working, there will be no way in hell that I can afford these games..

Damn you Gregor and your logic. Thank goodness you put in the stripper story to make me laugh. This team isn’t much different, other than being a year older. Do you think that one year of experience can make us that much better. God I hope so. And who you like in UFC 101 tomorrow?

I do think one year could make a difference, but it is far from a guarantee. Add in a new coach and that could be just as important in having a turn around. We saw it lots last year when teams changed their coach and the team suddenly played better.

As for UFC...I'll take Penn, even though he's a whiny little beatch. And I don't know if J-Flo can kick his way to a win. He will need to win three rounds because I just don't see him ending this fight with a TKO or submission.

And Silva hasn't been challenged in awhile and I think he wants to prove he should still be considered one of the best all around guys in MMA. I'll take the Spider.

For Me, PTA, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and The Breakfast Club were great, but the one that I guess I related to the most was Some Kind Of Wonderful.. Thats my fav John Hughes flick, love the soundtrack too.

Sigh.. I guess that is a sign you're getting older when your Idols start passing away.

I’ve been thinking, my #1 target for the Edmonton Oilers.
Vaclav Prospal
34 years old, so we can sign him to a “long term we are going to buy you out at the end” cap friendly contract because he is under 35. 6 year deal with 2 mil cap hit? Say 4-3-3-1-500k-500k. Maybe make it 7 year contract to toss in a few more mil at the start. He is only 1 year removed from a 71 point season and his point totals last year (45) would have been good for 3rd in Oiler scoring.
This makes total sense. 25-14-33-19 goals since the lockout. Even at 2.5-3 cap hit he makes more sense than Kotalik’s contract. Even if doesn’t play top line (and I could see him making a strong push to get the spot)
Penner - Horcoff - Hemsky
Prospal - Osullivan/Cogs - Gagner
looks like a good top 6/PP combination.
Also,
Prospal faceoffs
2008/2009 FO 200 53% win
2007/2008 FO 176 Win 54.6
2006/2007 FO 124 Win 52.4
2005/2006 FO 267 Win 45.3
So here we have a LW that puts up 25-30 goals, can take the faceoff and shift over to the Wing for Cogliano. This is who we need.

Yikes, considering he was just bought out I'm pretty sure we could get him for 1 year for 2 or less million/year.

Since I saw the news of Theoren Fleury's comeback bid, I knew someone would suggest this. Trust me; this is not going to go well for Theo. Even if the league allows him to play again, it takes an elite athlete to be competitive in the NHL at 41 and I don't think anyone used that term to describe him even at his best. He played hard, there is no doubt, but every argument that people used to demonstrate why Ryan Smyth wouldn't be the same player at 40 goes double for Theoren Fleury. He may get a look on a tryout basis by a team that's desperate for an Avery-type agitator on their energy line, but I still doubt he actually gets signed anywhere. There have been better hockey players than him at tryouts that went away empty-handed, even in Edmonton.

The last I heard of Fleury was an interview in the Calgary Sun a few years ago. In it, he was asked to consider his legacy and he responded by saying that (I'm paraphrasing) "I think I'm top 15, maybe top 10 all time".

The last I heard of Fleury was an interview in the Calgary Sun a few years ago. In it, he was asked to consider his legacy and he responded by saying that (I’m paraphrasing) “I think I’m top 15, maybe top 10 all time”.
He was a good player and a tough little midget, but delusional much?

He played hard, there is no doubt, but every argument that people used to demonstrate why Ryan Smyth wouldn’t be the same player at 40 goes double for Theoren Fleury

Fleury was way more skilled than Smyth. Way more. He averaged over a point a game his entire career. He scored 51 once, and had 8 30+ goal seasons. I agree it will be near impossible for him to come back, but he was more than just a gritty player. For his size he played extremely tough and had lots of skill.

what do you Guys think of the oilers going after Kessel maybe trading Cogliano Brule and 1 of our college defence prospects. There are only a few players on the roster I would not trade and them being Hemsky Gagner Visnovsky Eberle MPS Grebeshkov Actually maybe any of our draft picks from this year but out of the rest of our players you would think we could put together a pretty attractive packages

By Dallas, August 7, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
what do you Guys think of the oilers going after Kessel maybe trading Cogliano Brule and 1 of our college defence prospects. There are only a few players on the roster I would not trade and them being Hemsky Gagner Visnovsky Eberle MPS Grebeshkov Actually maybe any of our draft picks from this year but out of the rest of our players you would think we could put together a pretty attractive packages
Quote

I'm suprised Kessel doesn't get mentioned more often here, Basically he's Cogliano++ and a natural winger so he may be a better fit.

I could see Cogs + a decent prospect + a first or something similar getting the deal done.

@ Ogden Brother:
Yah me too he would be awsome on our first line I've heard he can play all 3 positions like patty o too. I have also heard he is not too happy bout chirelli however you spell his name overpaying lots if players and him being one of the last priorities and there top scorer last year

Weed, and what makes more, Nilsson at 2 mil or Prospal? 4th liner or 2nd? I agree he isnt gritty or tough or something we would have targeted July 1st. But August 7 a 22.5 average goal scorer on a team with 1 20 goal scorer is a damn fine upgrade over Nilssons 7.5.

Ogden Brother wrote:
Yikes, considering he was just bought out I’m pretty sure we could get him for 1 year for 2 or less million/year.
Prospal had made it very clear to TB management he wasn’t waiving his NTC so it was their way around it.

@ Ogden Brother:
The long term is so he can retire/we buy him out. If he accepts 1-2 years at a cheap price all the better, but if he wants the money the fact he is 34 allows us to do the Detroit thing and only watch him play 3-4 years tops. He makes actual salary of 3ish but cap hit of 2-under 2. Shoot, we should Sign a 12 year contract so only get 1 million dollar hit lol. We may be investigated like Hossa's contract but all of them are like that. Use the loophole while its there.